As you prepare to celebrate the holidays and plan for next year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on learnings for 2022.
Consider your national linear TV holiday ad campaigns, for example. Our data shows that Christmas-themed creatives outperform non-holiday creatives by approximately 27% in driving consumer searches for the brand or product being advertised.
Taking the time to create holiday-specific ad campaigns in the weeks before and after various holidays is a strategy that actually works year round. EDO found that Search Engagement, our proprietary measure of the increase in search activity for a brand or product in the minutes immediately following a TV ad airing, is also higher for Easter- (23%) , Thanksgiving- (17%), and New Year’s-themed (11%) creatives.
For additional holiday-related advertising data and insights, read recent posts from our new “Know What Works” blog series: Walmart’s Deals for Days Holiday Campaign Gains Traction and Chick-fil-A Shows Context is King; Wayfair Uses LTOs to Create Instant Engagement.
Our data also shows a significant increase in Search Engagement is found in specific industries. For example, brands in the Insurance (30%) and Department Store (26%) categories both benefit from Christmas-themed creatives. Do you believe this holds true for your industry? You can contact us today to learn how Christmas-themed creatives perform in your category.
When planning next year’s creatives, don’t forget timing will also play a critical role in the success of your ads. As the chart below shows, when it comes to Christmas-themed campaigns, Search Engagement is high when brands begin to advertise over a month prior to the holiday. Then as consumers become busy with other holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, we see a slight downward trend. A week prior and the days leading up to Christmas, however, there is a major Search Engagement spike. Based on this data, it’s safe to say there are no missed opportunities when advertising for Christmas, but there is a missed opportunity if a brand does NO advertising for Christmas.
While the Christmas season seems to arrive as fast as it departs, don’t forget, there are always opportunities for using other holiday-themed creatives to drive consumer engagement. Our data shows investing in holiday-specific creatives can make advertisers in certain verticals even bigger winners during other holidays. To learn which holidays, including Easter, Halloween, Labor Day, and July 4th, could merit dedicated creative for your brand, contact us today.